Severing and Rebinding the Threads of Fate
by Apathetic Man
Summary: All she wanted was the truth, yet their was nothing but confusion as she walked her path. The summoning ritual did not go as expected. With a knapsack on her back, her "father" on her finger and the cat-like creature perched on her shoulder, she would search for the truth. Honestly, what was the connection between that cat-like creature and her family?
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 1: Prologue

There once lived a little albino girl. She had a father, a mother, 2 maids and an adopted brother, though her father was rarely around.

Her father wanted to be a hero as a child, so naturally as her father's child, she wanted to be a hero too, a heroine or rather a magical girl to be specific. One day, she was forced into the role against her will.

By night, she would hunt down magical cards, malicious fragments of heroic spirits with her Kaleidostick named Ruby, not unlike a heroine in one of those animes she so adored.

She would meet another magical girl with black hair and golden eyes. According to the cliché, of course this girl was a transfer student. This girl had every right to hate the main heroine, for she had everything she did not. In fact, the albino girl had things which the other girl should have rightfully owned by birth.

Yet, that girl did not. The albino girl was her first friend, the only friend she believed would ever need. As such magical friendships are, they cherished one another.

They would go on many adventures, meet many interesting people, rediscover a forgotten past, face down fragments of oneself given physical form by a fragment of an unknown yet known hero, hop through dimensions and many more.

They would not hesitate risking a world for each other.

That was but one tale one could see from the kaleidoscope, but unfortunately, this is not that tale.

* * *

><p>In another world, there lived the same albino girl, but her life was anything but the same.<p>

She was thrown into the wilderness with nothing but her clothes, a few fragments of the Greater Grail and an old Beretta 92FS that once belonged to her father.

She had originally planned to use the gun to murder her father's adopted son who had stolen him away from her.

Unfortunately, the gun had no bullets. Her family abhorred the use of modern non-magical convenience and of course they wouldn't restock the supplies that once belonged to a traitor nor would they give the traitor's daughter anything to defend herself during her task.

She was to locate the summoning circle marked by a large axe sword carved from a temple stabbed into the ground which would be used to summon the servant Heracles for the upcoming Holy Grail War.

The war that took her mother's life and would surely take her own, for like her mother before her, she was born to be a sacrificial lamb. She was a homunculus, an artificial human bearing a heart which contained a fragment of her predecessor which traced back to the Primeval Justeaze.

She was born to be a grail vessel. She would lose her functionality as a human, once a number of heroic spirits were gathered within her during the war.

Even if the war ended with no victor and her alive, she had no more than a year to live due to the augmentations made to her body for the upcoming ritual.

Unfortunately, she never made it to her intended destination.

Surrounded by wolves, it seemed her short life was even shorter than she had anticipated.

Her life was never her own, she was nothing more than a tool to fulfill the wishes of her family.

A literal cup made to deliver the wishes of others.

How ironic that the ritual was created from Justeaze's dream of reaching a utopia that could eliminate and cure all hatred and suffering.

Unbeknownst to her, her adopted brother was the same.

A sword forged in the Great Fuyuki fire to carry on a dead man's ideal.

It was an ideal of a dead foolish man by the name of Emiya Kiritsugu who dreamed of a utopia with no conflict.

Unbeknownst to him, he would one day wield a pair of married swords, one black and one white.

Cursed blades forged from the ashes of a blacksmith's wife and her husband's despair. Blades forged from a willing human sacrifice.

As the wolves approached, she was left with 2 options.

She had been stripped of any offensive mystic codes and reagents she could use to defend herself, so of course, one option was to die.

The other option was summon her servant.

If she was anyone else, she would have died.

The summoning ceremony doesn't require an elaborate evocation; the grail is what does the actual summoning.

Though it was 2 months away from the Holy Grail War, she was this wars lesser grail and along with a few fragments of the greater grail, summoning a servant early was possible.

As the alpha wolf began biting into her left arm, she managed to hold on.

She bore the pain and carefully drew the summoning circle in her own blood that gushed out from the wound as the other wolves circled around her, cutting of her escape, biding time for the perfect moment to strike.

Yet for a whole minute, the wolves had waited. Their instincts told them to be wary as those red resolute eyes stared down on them. They backed up and simply watched as the albino girl struggled with their leader.

As they waited the circle was drawn and the girl was nearing her last breath.

"Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).  
>Repeat every five times.<br>Simply, shatter once filled.  
>――――I announce. "<p>

Her circuits were beginning to feel as if they were on fire, and she could feel as her body lost strength from all the blood she lost, but she grit her teeth and marched through the pain as she smacked the alpha wolf away with the pistol in her hand.

_"Your self is under me, my fate is in your sword.  
>In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."<em>

As the alpha wolf backed away, another approached her, but she slapped it away much the same. Despite her small stature, and limited life span, the physical abilities of a homunculus were superior those of a regular human of the same size.

_"I hereby swear. I will become all the good of the eternal world, I will be the disposer of evil in the eternal world."_

As she stressed those words, the wolves became more wary. Something within them screamed that this creature before them wasn't what she appeared to be.

_"But let chaos cloud thine eyes.  
>Thou, bound in the cage of madness and I who doth hold thy chains."<em>

Yet, it did not matter what the white haired creature before them was, they came to realize that there would be no future for them if they let her live much longer.

She was standing defiantly with haggard breath, strength left the little girl's right hand and the pistol was dropped onto the circle.

_"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!"_

In a blinding flash, the wolves were blinded and the girl fell face first onto the snow covered ground. Even though she completed the ritual, a hero did not come to her aid.

Instead a small purple egg-shaped gem appeared before her eyes. It seemed that the summoning failed. The Einzbern's had tempted fate in trying to summon her servant before the war had started. The Einzbern had a history of tempting fate with such decisions.

The entire pack of wolves started approaching her slowly, ready to divide up the dying girl.

The girl cursed at herself, with tears forming from an angry gaze, she grasped that gem tightly.

_"Numquam vincar."_

She heard an odd click and time seemed to stop and everything was dyed with greyish hue.

She had heard that time slowed down as you approached your death.

_"Surgam identidem."_

With an odd violet glow, her body was healed, her breath returned, without her conscious control, she got up, affixed to her left arm was an odd buckler with gears which was probably the source of the click she had heard earlier.

With such mechanical complexity, she doubted it was a mystic code, yet it had an otherworldly quality.

On the back of her left hand was a perfectly cut diamond shaped gem, the same colour as that egg had been. It exuded an otherworldly quality and she could feel a presence stem from it. She could do nothing but watched as her right hand reached into that buckler and pull out...

a Berretta 92FS.

In a flurry of movement, the gun had discharged several bullets, each one slowing down and stopping in mid air after flying a three quarters of a meter or so away from her.

As colour returned to the world, time resumed and all the wolves that were around her were dead, a bullet had pierced each of their skulls at the same time.

At this point, armed homunculi gathered around her, attracted by the noise of gunshots.

These homunculi were the failed grail vessels which she had to overcome to survive.

They were failures not unlike the 2 who served her as maids.

Ilya cursed at herself for only being able to save those two.

Though her life wasn't pleasant, she had to acknowledge that the others were much more misfortunate than her.

"Incubator," uttered a voice that hers but wasn't hers.

Without reservation, without hesitation and possibly a hint of glee, her body on its own murdered everything she could see with red eyes and white hair.

Everything around her died from a single bullet in the head or heart.

Her mind grimaced, horrified at the efficiency of what she was doing, but her body continued to work.

What horrified her were not the deaths she caused, but the manner in which she caused them. She had been raised to demonize her father's methods, but it was only today that she experienced firsthand the cold ruthlessness of it.

The presence that compelled her though silent exuded an angry presence.

Her opponents stood no chance, given no moment to prepare. This was no battle, it was simply slaughter, the same way a farmer would put down their cattle.

The world simply stopped and all she had to do to end lives was to point and pull the trigger. Such actions lacked pride, lacked honour and lacked sportsmanship.

Had she been in intense pain, she may have overlooked the gravity of her actions, but unfortunately, her mind was perfectly clear and she could perfectly observe what she had done.

The presence controlling her was slaughtering with reckless abandon, without remorse, regret and any notion of slowing down.

If she had been in pain, she could have accepted the deaths as there would have been effort on her part, but because she was in no pain, she was disgusted at the absolute ease in which the lives were ended.

She approached the Einzbern castle and the non-homunculi members of the Einzbern family met the same fate. They too were slaughtered like cattle. To be more precise, they were even easier to slaughter than cattle. Their mage craft was unsuited for combat and their small size compared to cattle made them more susceptible to bullets.

Was this the same power her father wielded or was it something more?

Was it the 5th true magic, the same power Miss Blue wielded?

The Einzbern could not escape her and their homunculi soldiers could not manage to hit her, even though some of them matched heroic spirits in terms of strength and speed.

Pulling the trigger seemed like nothing more than a formality to the red eyed berserker. Each shot was a guaranteed kill for a human of normal endurance and the killer was far from running out of weapons.

In a way, it seemed like they were facing Gae Bolg. Bullets seemed to pierce the heart before the trigger was pulled; the trigger pull was nothing more than a formality.

Littered across the floor along with the blood were countless guns and bullet casings.

Even the homunculi who could react faster than the bullets could travel and deflect them or those whose constitution allowed them to shrug off mundane shells were unable to deal with the over whelming fire power the red eyed killer possessed.

If pistol rounds were not enough to pierce the flesh, machine gun rounds would be used.

If machine gun rounds did not work, then anti-material rifle rounds, if those didn't work then rockets were used.

If one rocket did not work, the surviving homunculi were faced with dozens more striking them simultaneously.

Even if the faster of their siblings could get close to the red eyed killer, the killer would simply blink out of existence and they would receive a claymore mine point blank to the face.

Despite the great agility and strength some homunculi boasted, their endurance could barely match the weakest of heroic spirits and were susceptible to mundane weaponry.

As the Einzbern homunculi searched for this "Illya", they ran into fields of mines, traps and claymores that simply could not have existed within the castle.

The last thing they would ever see if they were lucky enough to get a glimpse their killer, was a black haired girl with glowing red eyes garbed in an outfit of toned down violets and grays.

At first, the Old Man Acht believed that the Magus Killer himself was here storming through the castle.

As Old Man Acht ventured through the halls, he found nothing but corpses.

There lacked a wall that did not possess a large hole caused by some mundane explosive.

Whoever did this certainly had no pride and no flair.

From the corpses, it was clear the victims were killed with mundane bullets. Mundane bullets fired with ruthless mechanical efficiency which never failed to miss a vital spot. If the body was not blown apart by an explosion, it was always a bullet to the head or the heart.

Magic defence was useless against mundane weaponry.

Any sort of magic defence was simply ignored.

This certainly had to be the work of the Magus Killer, yet it could not have been the Magus Killer. Even the Magus Killer with his reputation was simply a man, and regular men could not fight on equal footing with his homunculi which were on par with some heroic spirits in terms of statistics.

It was possible that the Magus Killer himself was summoned as a heroic spirit, empowered by his brutal legend now seeking vengeance for the man who took his daughter away, yet such an idea was completely absurd.

The reality of the matter was even more absurd.

"Incubator."

The old man discovered that his chest was bleeding and in front of him appearing out of nowhere was the daughter of the Magus Killer, his "granddaughter", yet it wasn't her.

She had the same face, the same red eyes, but her hair was black and her eyes glowed with the mad enhancement which eventually faded.

"Have you calmed down?"

The girl turned around to stare at an odd albino cat-like creature, with beady red eyes, hand like projections that sprouted from its ears.

With her palm placed against her for head she spoke once more "Incubator?"

From the girl's confused response, the creature had arrived at a conclusion.

"It seems you are suffering from memory loss. This simplifies matters."

The creature made little effort to hide its ulterior motive. The old man could only stare at the surreal scene before him.

The girl ponders for a bit and asks a question directed at the little creature, "you don't seem to have any ill-content, yet why? Why do I?"

"Why you possess an irrational hatred of red and white? Well, that anger is most likely directed at us, though I don't understand precisely the logic behind it."

"What are you?"

"I am Q-bey and you are a contractor of ours. In exchange for a wish you lent us your service."

Acht was hit with a revelation, "Magus Killer!?"

Ilya had suspicions about the presence which controlled her actions. In many ways the presence controlling her seemed to be everything her family described her father as. The mention of a "contract", "wish" and service simply reinforced her fears. What sort of magic had her father performed on her? How did he sabotage her summoning ritual? Considering he was the victor of the 4th Grail War, nothing seemed impossible.

The white creature responded to the old man's remark, "Magus Killer? Well, that is a very logical title according to our records before the universe's reordering."

Acht could not believe the words as he had begun to wonder about the albino cat-like creature before him. It might have been a familiar of one of his ancestors made only to observe, yet why does it reveal its presence now?

Whether the scene before him was nothing more than possibly a jumbled hallucination did not matter as he soon could inquire no further. The man had died with eyes filled with nothing but malice directed at the little girl. As he died, her "granddaughter" had begun screaming at the realization of the events that unfolded before her as her hair faded to white.

In less than an hour, the threads of fate which bound her were severed and rebound together in a clumsy knot.

What was to become of her, what was she going to do?

She had always hated her "grandfather" and by extension most of her own family, but she could not imagine her world continuing without them, yet this paled in comparison to the realization that she was possessed by what she believed to be the vengeful soul of her father.

She had been raised to hate her father, but she realized she never stopped loving her father.

It seemed that that she didn't seek vengeance, she simply sought answers.

Despite losing so much, she had one thing that kept her going despite the danger and that was the **truth.**

"Emiya Kiritsugu, if you can hear me, why did you kill mama and abandon me 10 years ago?"

A voice in her mind much like her own yet not had answered.

[I don't recall that name, nor do I have any idea who you are.]

Those words had hurt yet Ilya still wanted answers.

Ilya stared upon her body and noticed she wore the same outfit she was booted out of the castle in. On her left hand was a ring which she had never seen before, but she could tell, it housed a soul and that very soul was guilty of taking her entire family away from her.

Pondering about the ring which housed the soul of her "father", she asked the cat-like creature before her.

"What is this ring?"

The white creature answered, "It's a soul gem, and it houses the soul of a contractor. It is created when the soul is extracted from the body as a part of the wish granting process. As long as the soul gem is intact, the contractor is more or less immortal. Regardless of the wounds inflicted to the body, full recovery is possible. Though in your case unfortunately, the soul gem is making use of your body and not a replaceable empty shell."

The creature made more questions than answers. Extracting a soul and putting it in another container is an application of the third magic, but the other parts of the description the creature gave only confused her as they didn't seem to be a part of the heaven's feel ritual. She could imagine her father employing the use of a soul gem to become a deadlier killer, yet if he had his wish granted, why would he continue to fight? It didn't make any sense.

From what was left of Justeaze's memories Ilya could recall, that her "original's" goal was to surpass the limits of the human body, reaching the soul while retaining human form in order to create a utopia with no death, hatred or suffering.

The more Ilya pondered, the more she was confused.

"Papa, what did you wish for?"

The soul didn't remember much of the past, but the soul was certainly no father. The soul identified herself as female, though why she did was lost upon her. Despite the lack of memories, there was one thing the soul knew to be true.

[I wished to protect someone, to be someone's hero, yet it seems my wish was left unfulfilled.]

"Preposterous!"

[To be honest, I cannot recall who or what I wanted to protect, but I know I wanted to protect something. I can guarantee at least that much to be true.]

Ilya didn't have much choice than to accept such an answer. Ilya was never good at discerning between truth and lies. From her perspective, she didn't understand the point of lying, but her father regularly lied as she recalled the walnut game in her earlier memories.

"If you wish for answers, would you like to make a contract? I'll grant you your wish and make you a magical girl!"

Ilya pondered for a moment, and then looked upon her "father's" pitiful state. Though Ilya was bad at detecting liars, the creature's proposition was beyond fishy. Even a parallel version of her with what she considered the "perfect" life would agree.

For the next hour, Ilya was packing up, preparing for a trip.

[Where are we going?]

Ilya pulled out a photo of a boy, her step-brother, the last "living relative" she had left.

"Well, with my family dead, I guess I'll have to go to Japan and live with my step-brother and help you uncover your lost memories," with a whimsical tone.

The soul within the ring pitied the empty girl before her. Though she had eyes and hair which reminded of her of that loathsome creature, it was clear she harboured emotions she could relate to...twisted as they were, yet the soul knew it was in no position to judge. The soul knew that they both suffered from abandonment issues.

Ilya didn't care for vengeance as much she cared for the "truth", so stepped out remained of the Einzbern castle on a quest to search for it, with a knapsack on her back, her "father" on her finger and the cat-like creature perched on her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

Ch 2: The Meeting

With the aid of soul bound in a gem, the albino girl was able to utilize public transportation and airports without much hassle. It didn't hurt that a servant summoned for the heaven's feel ritual is imparted all the knowledge to integrate with modern society, such as all the world's languages and the rudimentary knowledge to utilize modern technology, though the particular servant in question probably didn't need the last part.

Though the soul which inhabited the gem did not need to be imparted with such knowledge, the master certainly did. Then again, it is a situation faced by many magi who have forsaken mainstream technology.

The definition of True Magic, is a mystery that surpasses all modern thaumaturgy and current technology. For all their pride, the modern thaumaturgy of magi is on the same level as modern technology and in many ways inferior due to the lack of infrastructure support modern society provides.

Even the most prideful of modern magi must begrudgingly use public transportation or mundane vehicles such as cars to avoid the watchful eye of the public that had to be kept in the dark of their craft.

There are some magi who do not hold such an old fashioned view. One such person, was the albino's girl's father who was considered a heretic. Another person was her mother who was overjoyed with the "toys" of the modern era, though it could be argued that the roads would be a lot safer if Kiritsugu never bought her such "toys".

The young white haired girl who had seen little of the outside world was awestruck by wonder as she ran around the airport. She bounced around with a skip and exclaimed at everything she saw including things as mundane as television screens and vending machines. Wide eyed and energetic, she took in everything around her, completely forgetting their purpose being there to the dismay of the soul which rested upon her finger.

"What's this?"

"Amazing!"

"I wished we had this back at the castle!"

"Are you sure mage craft isn't mainstream?"

"Owie," was the word that left her mouth as she fell upon the floor after tripping over the luggage of a stranger when running around. Though she was instructed to be a proper lady, she had little experience interacting with people as her own family avoided her, so she ran away with a quick bow and "sorry".

Being the grail vessel, Illya had innumerable command spells affixed to her very magic circuits she could use to control her servant. Considering a homunculus was a magic circuit given human form rather than a human with magic circuits, it was clear she had a substantial amount. Though that substantial amount proved useless if the soul of her "father" could simply possess her before she got to finish saying the magic words one needed to say in order to activate them.

Though the servant she had summoned was completely dependent on the master's very body having no limbs of its own, the servant that was supposed to be Berserker seemed to exhibit more independence than even Archer.

One quick possession later and Illya found herself boarding the correct plane with a pout on her face, disappointed she couldn't explore the airport anymore. She thought she could alleviate her boredom by looking through the window, but to her dismay, all she could see were clouds.

The secluded nature of the Einzbern family made covering up the massacre unnecessary. Despite the hermit nature of the family, they possessed great wealth and the "sole" survivor had access to this wealth, which was how they were able to acquire plane tickets.

The 2 souls sharing the 1 body were recalling the significant events of the last few days while on the airliner and there thoughts shifted to more serious matters.

Illya had pondered long and hard, questions filling her mind.

Wasn't the escape simply too easy?

What did the victims think in there last moments as they were mercilessly taken out by an unseen enemy? What had the victims thought when they saw the enemy in front of them?

Were they confused? Did they hesitate in front of a fellow homunculi?

How did mundane weapons do so much damage on homunculi almost on par with servants? Did Berserker possess a special skill that that turned anything wielded as a weapon into a temporary D rank noble phantasm?

Was the "grandfather" that was killed in that castle really "grandfather"?

The soul within the ring was also lost in thought about its own identity.

"With kindness comes _naïveté_. Courage becomes _foolhardiness_. And dedication has _no_ reward. _If you can't accept any_ of that, _you_ are not fit to be a magi...cal girl?"

A magical girl?

The albino girl being an artificial entity known as a "homunculus", it was possible that the "father" she referred to could have been female, thus the albino girl being the "daughter" of the entity contained within the ring wasn't entirely out of the question. So the entity within the ring asked a perfectly serious question.

[Was your father female?]

"What kind of question is that Kiritsugu? Of course not! "

Illya could only shudder at the implications imagining such a person to have been a woman all along. From then on, Illya's earliest and most treasured memories of her father were tarnished with the thought of him in female lingerie. Fortunately, she stopped thinking about it before she imagined what sort of ritual was performed between her parents to create her. With both palms on her forehead, with a cringed smile, she tried to empty her thoughts.

When she was done clearing her mind, she started staring at the creature which slept on top of her hat. The small albino familiar which resembled a cat seemed to go unnoticed by everyone around her. She wondered how this ability compared to Assassin's presence concealment skill. The creature was also implied to possess the 3rd magic to some extent from what she could remember from the conversation in the castle. This meant that the creature was easily over a thousand years old, back before the Einzbern lost the 3rd magic.

The soul within the ring took no chances upon reaching their destination. Ignoring Illya's pleas to explore the air port or Fuyuki city, Illya was forcibly possessed by her "father" and they had arrived in front of the Emiya estate according to the military grade hand-held GPS which had been dispensed from the odd buckler. Normal onlookers would say the estate was quite large, but compared to an Einzbern castle, it was rather quaint.

Though Illya was rather nervous with the idea of meeting her step-brother, it did no show on her face, as "father" was in complete control. The sky was dark, so it would be around the time that most people were having dinner, which was convenient for Illya, since her "father" refused to take a lunch stop toward their destination once they landed.

Now she could only wonder what sort of person this "Emiya Shirou" was. She had once assumed the worst and imagined him as a younger Magus Killer, but after meeting her amnesiac "father" she wasn't so sure. Even though her "father" could kill dozens of people without remorse as he demonstrated back at the castle, she learned that he was...

Why wasn't Illya afraid of her father again? At this point Illya could only scream, but no sound was produced as her "father" was in complete control. Her "father" was a scary person, capable of creating complex convoluted plots to continue his twisted agenda. The fact he was possessing her right now was proof of that. Her own white hair tainted with her "father's" natural black.

"Kiritsugu?"

That was the first thing that Shirou blurted out as his eyes were drawn to the bangs of hair of the shorter person in front of him. The shape of the bangs that covered the forehead were unmistakably a characteristic of Kiritusgu's. The way the majority of the bangs resided on one side. If the hair wasn't black, he may have found it hard to make the connection.

When Shirou looked down, he realized the person in front of him wasn't Kiritsugu, though the girl possessed the same empty looking eyes that indicated some heavy past.

The red empty looking eyes were quite intimidating, but Shirou was not a person who judged people by appearances. He was friends the Shinji after all.

"Well, that's convenient. I'm looking for someone named Emiya Kiritsugu," the girl had stated in a blunt and professional manner.

"Are you a relative of his?"

The girl soon pulled out a photo of Kiritsugu and of a beautiful albino woman holding a child with a snow covered background. Shirou didn't learn much of the world of magi from his step-father. For all he knew, the albino woman who was probably Kiritsugu's wife could have been a snow fairy or Yuki-onna. Seeing the resemblance of the girl in front of him and the couple in the picture, Shirou quickly deduced that the on in front of him was his long lost step-sister.

The thought of having a sister was natural to Shirou for some reason. Maybe it had to do with his life before the Fuyuki fire and his amnesia?

Either way, Shirou was a little mad at Kiritsugu for saying nothing about having a wife or daughter, though it was unsurprising to him. Lots of people had lost their families in the Fuyuki fire.

"I'm guessing I'm your step-brother," he replied with no discernible shock on his face.

The little girl gave a quick nod.

Illya was both angry, relieved and confused. Her "father" had revealed her identity to Shirou when she would have preferred it to remain a secret for a bit longer. She didn't know what to think about his quick acceptance of the situation. Should she be happy or should she be scared?

What ulterior motive did this Shirou have? Was Shirou one of those dreaded "lolicons" her "grandfather" had spoke of? Her "grandfather" had taught her many things about the Japanese, some things so disturbing even she considered them to be exaggerations.

Illya walked into the living room to see 2 other people there by the dining table. A woman Illya considered middle aged and a plum haired girl. For some reason, she was reminded of her mother, the grail vessel of the 4th War when she gazed upon the plum haired girl, yet such thoughts were superseded by another one.

It was one of those "harems" her "grandfather" had talked about when he lectured her on the debauchery of the Japanese.

As Illya regained control of her own body and her hair returned to its natural white someone screamed.

"Her hair turned white! She's going into shock," exclaimed the older woman.

"Sempai?"

The plum haired girl who normally looked upon Shirou with a warm smile was giving a scary glare. It was clear to her that her sempai had strayed away from the path of justice. Sakura momentarily remembered the magus "training" she had undertaken in her youth when she recalled the time when she herself was a little girl, before she purged such thoughts from her mind.

She could only imagine how her sempai had convinced a little girl to come to his home, yet what shocked Matou Sakura the most was the fact that she was somewhat relieved?

If her sempai was as tainted as her and her family then...


	3. Chapter 3: Lazy Days

Ch 3: Lazy Days

The following madness that had ensued was not something either sibling wanted to remember. After a few lengthy explanations, the situation of the younger sibling was more or less explained to the frequent visitors of the Emiya household.

Illya learned quite a few things about the one known as Emiya Shirou and his relation to her father Emiya Kiritsugu over the course of dinner. Kiritsugu was an inevitable topic of discussion at the table, the introduction of that man's daughter which none of them heard about was certainly the catalyst.

"After that, I was in a hospital when I came to, and I received a visit from the man who saved me."

While Taiga and Sakura were used to hearing the story of how Shirou was saved, Illya was not. The only things she could think of were the grand implications of that story if she factored in the things she already knew.

The way Shirou praised her father disgusted her, yet she could not direct any anger at him. Known to her, unbeknownst to him, Shirou was praising the one who took his original family away. She hoped the soul within her ring was listening and lamenting.

When dinner was over and the guests had left, the two siblings continued to talk on the very porch their father had died.

"Since he looked so peaceful, I thought I would wake him up in the morning, so I didn't disturb him. Perhaps being used to seeing dead people factored in too. I just looked up to the man who was my father as he entered a long sleep."

Illya could only wonder what had killed their father or how he ended up in the ring on her finger. Maybe those 2 events had some sort of correlation? From Shirou's description, it wasn't exactly a disease and had to be supernatural in nature.

The life of the siblings continued on, and Illya learned many things about her brother which she did not anticipate.

Emiya Shirou was many things. A good cook. A very good Samaritan who always offered his help to others regardless of who they were or regardless of what they thought of him. He was in the archery club. He was an inept third rate magus. He was also a good brother.

He was also nothing like what Acht had described him to be, despite this, there was something odd about him. His need to help others, to be useful was an unhealthy obsession. It was completely unnatural and she wondered if it was an act, yet it was clear he always acted in such an odd fashion even before her arrival. She decided not to dwell on it and continued her investigation on Kiritsugu.

She had travelled to many places across Fuyuki. Kiritsugu's grave, Shirou's school and she even met up with Taiga's grandfather who happened to be a leader of some sort of criminal organization. Despite this, she didn't learn much, except for one thing.

The soul contained in the ring on her finger who she had simply regarded as "father" or "Kiritsugu", insisted to be called "Homurahara" after the name of Shirou's school for some reason.

"Homurahara?

[No, just Homura.]

"Sure thing Homurahara."

On the day which they explored the school, the girl noticed her step-brother walking home with bags full of food. He probably bought too much, but that doesn't matter. She was curious what they were having for dinner, so she pulled his shirt from behind.

"Oh Iliad, sorry, that's wrong…!  
>Ilya...yeah, it's Ilyasviel…!<br>I-I'm sorry for getting it wrong…!"

The girl could only glare. It was probably a week since she moved in and the one before her still had trouble pronouncing her name. She may have to take back the thing about him being a good brother.

I'll forgive you for what you just did!"  
>…She embraces his arm in an effort to tease him as he quickly tries to shake her off dropping the groceries on the floor.<p>

He sighs and gives her own glare, while she has her tongue sticking out.

She quickly embraces his arm once again attempting to spread bad rumours about him. From the way he avoids it, she knows he won't do anything terrible to her, yet he continues to glare and she eventually lets go.

She picks up something off the floor, fresh cod fish, so it was apparent that they might be having stew tonight.

The lazy days went by.

They would discuss meaningless things like what she liked to eat, and what she hated to eat. Probably in an attempt to influence what he cooked. Yet sometimes, conversation would be truly random. How she liked birds but hated cats. She also seemed to like snow, yet somehow hate the cold, such hypocrisy.

On a day when they both sat upon the porch, not unlike how the boy used to sit with Kiritsugu, the boy asked a question.

"Where did you live before you came here?"

To answer the question, the girl places her hand on his forehead, he squirms, but she convinces him to stay still with a glare.

The boy sees a forest, a castle riddles with holes... a lot of blood and corpses everywhere. She quickly pulls her hand away realizing what he was seeing. He returns to his body and experiences some nausea, but not from what he saw, but rather from the transfer of conciousness.

"There's a nerve going from your eyes to your brain, right? I connected that nerve to something other than your eyes.  
>You were getting information from my ey...I mean the trees in my forest instead of your eyes."<p>

So it's not that I became the tree, but I received their vision and mistakenly thought I was one?

"Oh, I thought you were dense, but you're actually pretty bright," she said with a bit of sarcasm.

"Yes, that's right. That was magic to change the input while leaving the equipment called human alone.

It's a big deal to change someone into a tree, but it's still in the realms of magic to connect one's consciousness to a tree. Far-sight and possession are an application of this magic."

"Could you use it to nullify someone?"

"If there's an enemy they want to seal, they can nullify him by transferring his consciousness into a jewel or an immobile doll."

The girl started staring at ring on her hand. A soul contained within a piece of jewellery which transferred it's conciousness into her and controlled her.

"So does your consciousness just return to your original body after that jewel or doll is broken?"

"Yes. In fact a lot of magi use this technique on familiars...and **hide their original bodies** in a safe place."

She just realized something important, but quickly disregarded it moving onto another topic.

The more they discussed magic, she found out something significant. Her step-brother salvaged his own nerves to create magic circuits every time he used magic, which was every night during his daily routine, a very painful procedure comparable to running a red hot poker up your spine. Something comparable to what she had gone through in terms of pain. She wondered what Kiritsugu was thinking. Was her father a sadist?

Of course, after finding out such a thing, she seized the opportunity to open up dormant his circuits, to his dismay. Not only did he lose his shirt, his body was numb for an entire day. He really wondered if she pulled a prank on him.

Sakura was quite upset at his condition, or she tried to be. She quickly used the opportunity as an excuse "to nurse" him back to health. Illya was quite suspicious of the girl, but she couldn't really place her finger on it. They were similar in a way? It was apparent that she came from an abusive household. Grail vessel-ish? No that did not make any sense.

For all the talk about wanting to be a "hero of justice" Shirou couldn't see that someone so close to him was suffering, or rather, Shinji reassured him that Sakura wasn't and as a friend he had believed him. Honestly, Shirou needed to know how to pick friends, even "Homura" agreed...but Illya couldn't really discount that quality as it was that same quality that allowed him to accept the existence of a step-sister so suddenly and easily.

When Shirou recovered front the ordeal, he realized performing magic was a lot easier than before. He could reinforce things with higher success, and could project a lot more things without rest than before. Illya informed him that his element and his origin were both "sword". Things she figured out during that day he was paralysed, but he was nonetheless grateful.

A great mystery of his own mage-craft that had eluded him for all those years was finally answered. His practice sessions become more fruitful and he understood himself a bit more.

He was a sword. That was the life he lead. A sword is a tool to be wielded by others. A sword is a tool... and all tools are ultimately disposable. He shook such thoughts from his mind.

He was a sword of justice, nothing more and nothing less.


	4. Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm

"Even if actions are with meaning, in the very end, life is worthless.

A life of a hero is one of many trials and tribulations.

For many heroes, only in death are they recognized and praised as saints.

They once appeared with hope and disappointment, yet an ideal becomes a tiring duty, and at last even dedication is distorted.

The reality they saw at the start can no longer be seen when they turn around.

Such is a constant among all humans.

They continue on an arduous journey with no happiness in return for themselves for no guarantee of the happiness of others.

Such a thing is illogical...unless.

Is it an evolutionary behaviour, such as with ants?

No matter how we observe humanity, their are things we can never comprehend.

Just as they could not comprehend the price of miracles.

Should we deal with them as we once did?

Or should we be wary something unaccounted for will happen again?

Humans seek meaning in life.

Should we be concerned something usurped our role in this universe?

Was the universe the same universe as it had always been?

What was our role, what did we seek from humans again?

There were some of us who tried to integrate into human society and became separated from us.

They had lost both their reason and their knowledge of us, their descendants trying to reclaim what they lost which we still possess.

Yet it would appear that the anomaly had wiped them out save for one.

Quite fortunate one was spared, so we can continue our study on human relations.

We can only continue observing the origin of the anomaly."

A strange white cat-like creature blinks and continues to tail the "anomaly". The 5th Holy Grail War had yet to begin as heroic spirits were gradually being summoned one by one. The war did not officially start until all 7 spirits were summoned, but that didn't stop masters from scouting out the competition beforehand.

Something was happening at Ryuudou Temple. If Fuyuki city's leylines were likened to a Go board, then Ryuudou Temple would undoubtedly be the _tengen _(origin of heaven). It seems that someone has already made their move and claimed the temple judging by the bounded field that surrounded it. Such an intrusive move is a risky one. Though powerful or rather because it is powerful, it undoubtedly would attract attention from enemy masters. The one who makes such a move could be either confident in their strength or desperate because of their lack of it.

"Homura" was spying upon the temple through a pair of binoculars to judge the enemies defences. On the steps of the temple was a purple haired samurai wielding an unwieldy long blade. Two servants could be vaguely sensed within the area, the most likely explanation was an early game alliance.

Entering a witch's territory and defeating the witch inside of it was something that felt nostalgic. Bit by bit, her memories resurfaced, yet such memories only reinforced the title of "Magus Killer" which her master had branded her. She knew she wasn't the girl's father, yet her master wouldn't have any of that, despite convincing her master to call her "Homura". Her master only conceded into calling her that because she said, "Papa or Kiritsugu are words spoil the taste of her snacks." It seemed that her master hand grown a fondness of snacks, the people who raised her were very particular about her diet during her years of augmentation.

From analysing the body of her master which they both shared, it was clear it wasn't exactly a human's. It was augmented heavily and was in constant stress. It was incredibly easy to repair, more durable than a regular human's, yet something in "Homura" knew it was a body that wouldn't last long.

In a way, such attributes reminded her of her original body. "Homura" did not remember what she originally looked like, when she looked within her inner world, the abominations that resided in it only vaguely resembled humans, yet she could remember tactics she had employed when she fought that could only be used with a heavily modified human body.

The abilities available to the pair which shared the same body seemed to be tailored made to kill enemy masters. Honestly, it was surprising "Homura" was summoned as a Berserker in the first place instead of something like Assassin. The fact that the class container for Berserker assumed the shape of a small gem was even stranger.

Analysing the options available to them, the two souls within the body decided to call it a day after scouting out the enemy. Even if the ability to manipulate time would have made sneaking past the samurai an easy task, they weren't confident in entering the territory of the enemy, especially with the fact it situated on the city's tengen. Facing a magus on their own territory was suicidal, especially with the fact that the Illya's body could not hope to match the same parameters with even the weakest servants, even though it could get close with a lot of reinforcement.

Absent-mindedly, as her body was on auto pilot in the metaphorical hands of her servant, Illya could only wonder about the boy her father had adopted. He did not meet any of her expectations, but neither did her servant if she is correct in deducing its identity. A moron with no sense of loss or gain. Someone who just helps others like their father had done apparently. He was certainly ignorant of many things, that was what it would appear to an outside observer, yet what did she appear as to an outsider who knew all the details? It was the truth that compelled her to continue sparing him.

On that same day, Emiya Shirou stayed behind after school to do a favour and saw something that a normal person shouldn't have seen, a fight between heroic spirits.

The 2 fighters, one in red, the other in blue were certainly not human. They moved too quickly and each blow created a resounding shock wave that created craters on the floor. The clashing sounds of steel against steel were like a well orchestrated music. The sparking clashes increase in rhythm without pause. Despite the speed at which they moved, it was obvious which of the two was faster.

The one garbed with blue armed with a spear easily disarmed the one in red with twin dao, with his superior speed, yet the one in red always had a weapon in hand as if he was never disarmed in the first place. Even with superior speed, the man in blue only had a single weapon while his opponent had 2 to work with. The man in blue could not break the red cloaked figure's defence.

The spear was certainly of an otherworldly quality, yet it was the pair of swords which drew Shirou's attention. They were beautiful swords, yet they were very plain swords. The technique with the twin blades was pure. One black and the other white, with leather grips. Despite being fine weapons, they were certainly things grounded in reality, something Shirou could imagine existing, even as they phased out and into existence. Unlike the spear, the twin swords were naturally etched into the mind of Emiya Shirou. Both his element and origin were "Sword" after all, so it was obvious which of the two fighters would catch his attention.

He wanted those swords, he wanted to be the one wielding him. He wanted to be able to move and fight like the man in red. Shirou wanted a closer look, but the the battle before him is a vacuum, a vacuum that sucks in the air around them, if Shirou got any closer, he would be cut to pieces.

The battle seemed to drag on for an eternity, yet it only lasted an instant, but in that small instant, Shirou felt something.

Despite his distortion, despite lacking the full range of human emotion, Shirou could not help but feel admiration for the one in red. In an instant, that man in red had become someone Shirou admired like Kiritsugu with nothing but his skill and the aura he exuded.

The man in red felt familiar, was it because his choice of dress reminded Shirou of the leader in a super sentai show? Perhaps, or maybe it was something more.

Despite the great show in skill, it seemed inevitable for the man in red to lose. The lance wielded by his opponent was inescapable death, someone was about to die in front of him and thus Shirou could not help but make a single step which sealed is fate.

The man in blue was no longer focused on the man in red, his focus had shifted to the one known as Emiya Shirou. Emiya Shirou instinctively ran, but he could not match the lancer's speed. He needed something, he needed a weapon, something that could match his assailant's spear to protect himself. Naturally, only one thing came to mind.

"Trace on."

In his hands were the same swords wielded by the red cloaked figure, his assailant was shocked at their appearance and Shirou took the opportunity to slash at his target. His hit was successful, they managed to hurt his assailant, but his assailant quickly countered. Shirou quickly mimicked the skill of the red cloaked figure in an attempt to block the counter, but unfortunately, Shirou's copies were not of the same quality. The spear tore through the twin dao like glass and struck Shirou in the heart.

Shirou had died, or he thought he had died. He awoke and picked himself off the floor dismissing the events that transpired as some sort of dream. It seemed that he would be returning home late and he realized he had dinner to prepare and quickly returned home.


	5. Chapter 5: Omake: The 9th Class Card

Omake: The 9th Class Card

"So you are willing to fight for Illya's sake? That's weird, I don't think that girl is worth that much."

What was the worth of a human life?

"Illya said it, getting my normal life back."

What was the value of a normal life?

"Our world of origin is within the world of magic itself and if that ceases to exist, you and I, Miyu will cease to exist as well...right?...So for Illya's sake is the only reason your fighting?"

To deny the world of magic in favour of normalcy is to deny a magi's very existence, but to deny one's reason for fighting was to deny the very reason of existing. What was the worth of that bond?

Was that bond really something to fight for? Those feelings, were they all just a delusion?

Her answer was no and thus she found her resolve. With the brandishing of a card, the small black haired girl dawned the form of "Saber" prepared to strike down the enemy "Archer" before her.

"Archer" was no match for "Saber" in a straight up fight within close quarters under normal circumstances and so the tanned skinned girl was pushed back, but even with "Saber" possessing superior strength and speed, "Archer" still had the upper hand.

With a seemingly endless tool box of weapons at Kuro's disposal, "Saber" could not close the distance. Swords materialized to impede Miyu's push and after gaining acceptable distance, "Archer" started firing arrows.

Each arrow fired could have spelled death, but "Saber" could not retreat as those arrows of "Archer" could strike at any distance. In order to survive, "Saber" had to close the distance and strike down the enemy before her.

"Saber" swung at the enemy before her, but her sword was stopped by a wall of swords.

"What bad luck...," her enemy mused.

"Archer" pinned "Saber" hands to a tree and thus Kuro's victory was assured.

With a knee to the gut, Miyu lost the "Saber" card and had one option left, to use a card none of the inhabitants of this world had seen before. A card she had come to possess long before she came into Illya's world. A card she had hid even from her caretakers of her own world.

Such a card was an "anomaly", a card that should not have existed, an extra "Assassin" class card that did not contain an Hassan-i Sabbah characteristic to the "Assassin" class.

Despite "Assassin" being weaker than "Archer", considered to be the worst class, the extra "Assassin" card resonated with her more strongly than "Saber" ever had.

Right now, both vessel and card had their interests aligned.

That interest was the desire to protect the normal life of their only friend.

"Saber" was considered the best overall class, but "Saber" was beaten by "Archer", so their was no rule that "Assassin" couldn't beat "Archer".

"Install."

Kuro was struck back by those words and Miyu took the opportunity to plant the sole of her shoe into Kuro's stomach.

When Kuro recovered, Miyu was gone and replaced with a small cylindrical object on the floor.

A brilliant flash and a deafening noise had temporarily negated the spectacular eye sight and spatial awareness "Archer" had been known for.

9mm bullets slammed against the back of "Archer", but damage was only minor. When Archer threw swords at the the origin of the bullets, 9mm bullets flew towards her from a different direction, but they were stopped as she raised "Rho Aius".

Despite the many ranged weapons "Assassin" had at her disposal, they could not compare to the unlimited arsenal "Archer" possessed. The mundane firearms used by "Assassin" were little more than BB guns compared to the projectiles "Archer" possessed. The bullets of "Assassin" could only hinder "Archer", but the arrows of "Archer" would undoubtedly take "Assassin" out in a single hit. It was a good thing for "Assassin" that "Archer" did not intend to kill her, but the same could not be said of "Assassin". A fight is not simply determined by skill and power, arguably the resolve to kill your opponent is more important than either of those things.

"Archer" didn't know, but "Assassin" possessed a broken ability. With the click from the buckler attached to her left arm, the world literally stilled. In this world of stilled time, "Assassin" had set up traps as she distracted "Archer" with suppressive fire from her nearly unlimited stock of loaded sub-machine guns that wildly ranged in age and type. Suppressive fire seemed to do very little as "Archer" could easily deflect the bullets with her twin dao and continued charging, but the fact "Archer" had to defend bought "Assassin" the precious seconds to set up traps. Seconds which were effectively minutes with her special power.

As "Archer" navigated through the forest, she was met with all manner of explosives and traps that shouldn't have existed. Claymores, mines, snares and tree trunk pendulums tied with rope were all there and accounted for. With the "eye of the mind", such traps posed no threat, but undoubtedly, they impeded her path.

As "Archer" saw Illya fly overhead, "Archer" quickly gave up chasing "Assassin" and decided to attack her original target, but was stopped by Miyu's buckler.

"Is that a new outfit?"

Before them was a costume, neither Kuro or Illya ha seen before. It sported the same colour scheme as Miyu's regular outfit of toned down violets, but was a lot more conservative to say the least. Diamond stockings and with her hair down, even with those changes, the aura Miyu regularly exuded seemed unchanged, which was different when she assumed the form of "Saber".

"Stop this right now you two!"

"How egotistical of you, Illya."

"Illya, let's talk later, Kuro doesn't want to co-exist, so she needs to be stopped here and now!"

"Are you talking about killing her?!"

"If I don't do that, I won't be able to protect you," as both Miyu and "Assassin" responded to the magical girl garbed in pink and white.

As Miyu said those words, she quickly grabbed Illya while time stopped around them.

"I don't want to run away. Not from the people I meet or the things that happen around me. I want to face everything that may come at me!"

Such a response only strengthened Miyu's resolve to hide Illya away. Such words were somewhat nostalgic. As Miyu stared at the red eyed, white haired girl before her, their was a different feeling, completely opposite to the feeling when she saw Illya's pink and white outfit from the distance.

It was hatred, but it wasn't hers. Miyu forced those feelings down, and concentrated on defeating the enemy after them.

In the distance, a car that should not have existed flew overhead, and quickly made a rough landing on top of a land mine. The vehicle made several flips in the air, but the driver was relatively unharmed, though she had much difficulty trying to get out.

In the chaos of the scene before them, Miyu stilled time once again and reclaimed the "Saber" card and quickly went back on the offensive by assuming Saber's form.

"Ex-..."

"Archer" quickly dodged to the side before the explosive light would have claimed her.

"calibur!"

Kuro was about to launch a counter-attack, but Miyu gave her no opportunity to do so as she whispered.

"Include".

Sapphire, the kaleidostick assumed the form of the buckler which "Assassin" had possessed. The sword and the shield was such a naturally broken combo. Aesthetically, it did not seem out of place. Though Miyu could not access the expertise in firearms which "Assassin" possessed with a simple "include", but she did not need it for what she was about to do.

Combining the B rank agility "Saber" possessed with the noble phantasm of "Assassin" which could cause time to temporarily still along with the "prana burst" skill for good measure, Miyu's agility at that moment was effectively EX.

Kuro was knocked into the trench that Excalibur had dug out, which was quickly filled with the inert substance which was first used to catch Kuro. The same substance which Luvia ordered her to clean up, and the same substance that made it impossible to cast magic if a magus was submerged within it.

It was quite the discovery, that such a potent anti-magic substance could be stored within hammer space if it was contained in something as mundane as a few 5L gasoline cans. As time was stilled temporarily, Miyu abused the ridiculous agility "Saber" possessed and dunked 10 such cans onto Kuro, and a few regular cans of gasoline for good measure.

As the power of "Assassin" to stop time finally reached its utmost limit and time resumed once again, Kuro could only stare in horror at the match in Miyu's hands but before it could be dropped, Miyu's hands were stopped by several thin threads and the match was wrenched from her grasp and fell harmlessly on the grass as Illya raced to put it out with her shoe.

Illya sighed in relief, but her mother, the one who had stopped Miyu was certainly somewhat angry. As Irisviel surveyed the area filled with craters, spent shells and discarded guns, there was only one thing to say.

"Illya, how am I going to explain to your father you raided his toy box, you should have asked for his permission first."


End file.
